The Natural: Underestimate Belle Smith at Your Own Risk

Belle Smith ambles up and down the beaches of Long Island scouting out competition. Usually, the opponents she chooses look bigger or stronger than her. Often, they underestimate her. And every time, she beats them.

Her game of choice? Spikeball.

“She’ll smoke literally anyone on the beach in Spikeball,” said Hollie Schleicher, Smith’s cousin-slash-teammate and go-to Spikeball partner. “She’s just a freak athlete.”

The same is true on the lacrosse field for Smith, a junior midfielder at Boston College. But unlike in Spikeball, her opponents in lacrosse know not to underestimate her. A former ACC Rookie of the Year and a two-time All American, Smith’s name is on the ballot to fill the hole left by Charlotte North. 

Schleicher is right: Smith is a freak athlete. But natural talent is only one part of it. 

She works hard, as any Division I athlete does. She balances and prioritizes and misses out on “typical college things.” It’s hard, Smith said, but without her family behind her, it would be near impossible. 

“I think one of the big reasons I love this sport is because it is so much about relationships and family,” Smith said. 

Smith’s two older sisters, Alexa and Caitlin, played college lacrosse at Monmouth and Denver, respectively. Her mom, Jen, played field hockey at Delaware. Schleicher, her cousin, credits Smith with putting a lacrosse stick in her hands for the first time. Now, the two play together at BC. 

“I don’t think we could have really seen ourselves playing without each other,” Smith said of Schleicher. “It’s been one of the biggest blessings having my cousin here. It’s like a nice piece of home.”

When Schleicher was 7, she grabbed a ground ball and had a clear look at what could be her first goal ever. But as Schleicher wound up, already planning the celebration in her head, the ball dropped straight out of her stick and rolled a few feet behind her. 

But there was Smith, one year her junior, ready to scoop it up and pot it in the back of the net. 

“Belle has always been that person,” Schleicher said. “She really just has a gift and just a knack for finding the net.”

Through 14 games this season, Smith sits third on BC’s roster in goals (32) and points (52) and second in assists (20). BC is 11-3 with losses to Denver, Northwestern and reigning national champion North Carolina. Though the field appears more level than it has in years past — only two teams (Denver and Syracuse) remain undefeated — the Eagles still have their eyes on a sixth-straight Final Four appearance.

Even without North, the two-time Tewaaraton Award winner, the Eagles are still finding ways to win. For the most part last season, Smith was focused on off-ball work, setting up as an outside option for when North was double- or triple-teamed. This year, she has taken on a more front-facing role, initiating the play rather than being the backside of it. 

“It’s just about rallying around what our style is each individually and what we want to come out of that,” Smith said. “It's kind of all of us now combining our skills together to figure out how to fill that void.”

Smith’s focus in practice is her IQ, discipline and athleticism, she said. As a result, she reads defenses and picks apart gaps like it’s her job. 

Smith scored a season-high six goals in BC’s win over Louisville on March 11, flexing her lacrosse IQ and showing off a toolbox overflowing with new tricks. She explodes into cuts and sails past defenders in transition to set up elegant goals for herself and her teammates.

“When she plays, she always looks like she’s ice skating,” said her mom, Jen Smith. 

Funny enough, though, ice skating is one of the few sports that Smith never tried her hand at. 

In high school, she was just the second female athlete to be named to Newsday’s All-Long Island first team in three sports: lacrosse, basketball and volleyball. Smith still holds the Westhampton Beach High School record for career digs in volleyball (2,046) and is the school’s all-time leading scorer in basketball with 1,735 points. 

Not to mention the fact that she was No. 2 recruit in her class in lacrosse.

“The best part about that is she’s not just super skilled and really talented,” Schleicher said. “She’s the most humble person I know.”

Smith is always the first to celebrate her teammates when they score, and rather than throwing down her stick when she finds the back of the net, she usually places it gently on the ground and goes in search of a teammate to hug. 

“I’m a big lover,” she said. “I just can’t help myself.”

Smith hugs so much that sometimes her teammates have to tell her to rein it in. While many of her teammates put their headphones in and tune out the world before games, Smith jumps around the locker room listening to Drake and Taylor Swift on the speakers. She leads dance circles before home games and cheers as her teammates show off their moves.

“That’s just kind of how I roll,” Smith said.

On the days of BC home games, the Eagles are excused from classes. Smith goes anyway. Going to class helps center her, she said, but it also points to her work ethic and a commitment to constantly push herself.

Between upward of six hours of lacrosse every day, plus a rigorous academic course load, Smith rarely slows down. 

“I kind of like having not much time to get things done. I think it forces me to stay focused, which I am appreciative of,” Smith said. “But no, it’s really hard.”

Her daily breather comes at dinner, when she cooks for herself and often her roommates after they catch a whiff of what she’s making. But outside of that brief respite, Smith is laser focused. 

Her family is at the root of that trait, too. Her father, Tom, encouraged Smith and her siblings to pursue lacrosse and even coached some of her youth teams. 

Still, Smith doesn’t feel any pressure from her family. Any that she does feel comes from an internal desire to succeed.

“I think our team does [feel pressure],” Smith said. “All of us individually and as a unit, but I think that's what makes us better. I think if we didn't have the pressure on ourselves, then you know, what are you playing for?” 

Though Smith’s mom and aunt were both Division I athletes in college — they played together at Delaware — they made a conscious decision to let Smith and Schleicher develop their own identities as college athletes.

“I think they kind of wanted us to form our own path,” Smith said. “We knew that they were badass when they were playing at Delaware. But I think something really special about them is they always let us forge our own path and kind of figure it out on our own.”

That doesn’t mean that Smith’s family is completely hands-off in her lacrosse career. Smith had her choice of colleges before landing at BC, and a big factor in the process was how easy it would be for her family to come to her games. Boston is just a ferry ride away from their home on Long Island, and Jen and Tom Smith make the trip up for every home game.

They’re present not to be sideline coaches or to impart wisdom on their daughter (Jen Smith was a longtime motivational speaker), but to share in the joy that Smith feels every time she steps on the field.

“As opposed to me talking about X's and O's or giving her a motivational speech — she doesn't want that,” Jen Smith said. “She just wants to know that I love her equally on the good days and equally on the bad days.”

Smith will spend her summer away from the small, quaint beach town that she grew up in for the first time this year. She’ll be interning in a big city, living with one of her teammates, and figuring out who she wants to be outside of lacrosse. 

But when she makes trips home, it’ll be easy to spot her pacing up and down the shores of Westhampton Beach with her family, scouting out the competition. 

Just like she always does.